VIJAYAWADA: Minister for Civil Supplies Kodali Venkateswararao announced that from September this year, polished rice will be supplied to all the ration card holders. After a cabinet sub-committee meeting was held on Friday, the decision to supply polished rice was taken. The step is to cause a burden of Rs 1,000 crore on the State treasury.
The group of ministers, Kodali Venkateswararao, Kurasala Kannababu, Sri Ranganatha Raju, Advisor to Chief Minister Ajeya Kallam and few other officials participated in the meeting. It was estimated that over six lakh metric tonnes of polished rice was required to meet the requirement of all the ration card holders in the State.
Kodali Venkateswararao stated that large amount of rice was being diverted to foreign markets illegally and that they would take measures to control it. “The rice which we are receiving from the Centre is of poor quality, which consists of 25 per cent of husk. Public face difficulty in cleaning and cooking them. So we have decided to distribute polished rice from September 1 to all ration card holders in the State,” he added.